Xie Yinuo couldn't stand to see her upset. He glanced at his good friend, who had been walking quietly, and quickly shifted his attention. "Why don't you ask Zheng Xiao to tutor you? His grades are better than mine, he's first in the entire grade!"
Zheng Xiao had actually been paying attention to them. Upon hearing this, he quickly shot Xie Yinuo a glance, only to receive a flattering dimple smile in return.
He pretended to shake his head helplessly, met the girl's sparkling, expectant eyes, and then cleared his throat to cover his tracks before responding, "I haven't tutored anyone before. How about this, I'll look through my textbooks and notes tonight, and start tutoring you tomorrow afternoon. Does that sound okay?"
"Of course! Thank you, Brother Zheng Xiao!" Xiao Wenqiang, thinking of him as Xie Yinuo's good friend, addressed him as such. At this moment, she excitedly jumped as high as she could. Tutored by the school's top student, could anyone be luckier than her?
"Ahem... To celebrate finding such a great tutor, I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow, Saturday!" Xiao Wenqiang said, slightly embarrassed, tidying her messy hair.
"I have something on tomorrow, so I won't be joining you," Xie Yinuo surprisingly refused first. He usually responded first to such invitations.
"What do you have going on?" Zheng Xiao was also a little puzzled, he hadn't heard him mention anything before.
"Oh, it's just that I'm meeting someone I met online for a game! We're meeting in person tomorrow!" Xie Yinuo's face turned a suspicious shade of red. "Don't worry about me, you two just eat by yourselves and then study well. Sister Qingyan, you probably don't want to be kicked out of the class by your math teacher, right!"
"You really know how to hit a sore spot!" Xiao Wenqiang shot Xie Yinuo an annoyed glance. "Brother Zheng Xiao, ignore him, let's go have a feast!"
"Okay!" Zheng Xiao replied with a smile. After multiple interactions, he found himself developing special feelings for the girl in front of him.
They soon arrived at the girls' dormitory building. Xiao Wenqiang said goodbye to them and turned back to her dorm with satisfaction. She vaguely heard Xie Yinuo's voice, "By the way, when did you start taking notes? I had no idea?" However, Zheng Xiao's reply was lost in the wind, unheard by her.
That night, there was no air conditioning in the dormitory, only a ceiling fan working tirelessly.
Xiao Wenqiang tossed and turned in bed, contemplating whether she should find time to buy a suona and practice it, as musical instruments deteriorated quickly without practice.
The long-absent System 86365 suddenly spoke. [You could consider getting a soul artifact and transforming it into a suona form according to your needs.]
"Soul artifact? What is that?" Xiao Wenqiang had never heard of it before.
[Everything you encounter in each mission belongs to this world. Once you leave this body, you cannot take anything with you. But a soul artifact is different. You can merge it with your soul and nurture it with your heart. It might even become your weapon in the future.]
"I need a weapon? Are the future missions very dangerous?"
[It's hard to say. Novel worlds can be of all kinds. It's not impossible that you might go to a place where you'll need a weapon, so it's good to prepare in advance.]
"What do I have to pay?" Xiao Wenqiang knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.
[It's only ten thousand points. Considering your current missions are going smoothly, I can let you have it on credit for now.]
"Ten thousand? And 'only'? You're too greedy!" Xiao Wenqiang exclaimed.
She recalled the point reward and penalty rules that System 86365 had mentioned before and did the math: "If I get this soul artifact, assuming every client is very satisfied, I'll have to complete at least 5 missions to earn this money back."
She felt it was too expensive. "Can you make it cheaper, 86365!"
[I really can't. Besides, I'm giving you credit because I see your potential. Not all task-takers can earn so many points. I told you last time, if your points drop below negative eighty thousand, you won't be able to continue with missions, and our contract will automatically be voided. You'll then dissipate into nothingness.]
Xiao Wenqiang had been on missions for quite some time and had almost forgotten that she could dissipate at any moment. However, she was very grateful to have met System 86365, otherwise, she would have just vanished upon death. So, after much consideration, she nodded, "Okay, please exchange the soul artifact for me!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Wenqiang felt her soul leave her body and return to the system space. A large screen suddenly appeared out of nowhere, displaying only the words "Soul Artifact." She lightly clicked these words, and the interface changed to show "Deduct 100,000 points," with "Yes" and "No" options below.
Silently counting the zeros, Xiao Wenqiang took a deep breath and clicked "Yes." Soon, she felt a ball of transparent energy surge into her forehead, which she presumed was the "soul artifact."
[A soul artifact has no fixed form upon initialization. You can imbue it with any form you desire. As long as your imagination is rich, it can have all sorts of shapes.]
"It has no fixed form upon initialization? So if I turn it into a suona, can I change its form later?" Xiao Wenqiang seized on the key point and asked.
[You cannot change it outside the mission world, but you can transform it once it's retracted into your soul space. The stronger your soul power, the stronger the soul artifact will be.]
"Okay, thank you!" Xiao Wenqiang was finally at ease. With a thought, the soul artifact transformed into a suona with golden skirt-like embellishments and a red wooden tube.
Holding the suona soul artifact, Xiao Wenqiang returned to the mission world. She used the original host Mao Qingyan's hand to touch it. It felt just like a regular suona, only more exquisite and vibrant. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the night, otherwise, she would have loved to play a tune to test its sound!
Holding her beloved little suona soul artifact, Xiao Wenqiang finally fell into a deep sleep.
The next day at noon, in the cafeteria.
"Brother Zheng Xiao, didn't we agree to have a big meal yesterday? Why do you insist on eating in the cafeteria?" Xiao Wenqiang asked while eating.
"Aren't your mid-term exams approaching? Eating out would waste too much time. After eating in the cafeteria, we'll go to the library to study and make the most of every moment!" Zheng Xiao, unusually talkative, explained.
"But I originally wanted to thank you, and you ordered so little in the cafeteria, I felt a bit embarrassed."
"Don't waste it. It's still time to treat me after your exam results show definite improvement!" Zheng Xiao said with a gentle smile.
Xiao Wenqiang once again marveled at how inaccurate the original novel's description was. How could such a gentle Zheng Xiao be the gloomy and obsessive person in the book? Just as she was about to say something more, two shadows suddenly appeared beside them.
"Yo, isn't this the piece of dung that bet with Teacher Xu? What, still not studying properly? Are you really planning to transfer out of our class?" Bai Lu's deskmate, Xu Fei, also a classmate, appeared by their table.
"Oh, Fei Fei, you don't understand! She's clearly doing this on purpose because she doesn't want to stay in our class and wants to skip to the second year!" Another classmate, Wang Lili, said sarcastically, then pouted prettily at Zheng Xiao, who was sitting nearby. "Brother Zheng Xiao, you haven't realized that, have you?"
"Who are you?" Zheng Xiao asked, a bit confused. "Are we close? Please don't address me like that!"
"You..." Wang Lili's face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm Lili, Wenjing's good friend. We've met before, have you forgotten?"
Zheng Xiao frowned but still said politely, "I'm not very close to Mao Wenjing, so I have no impression of you. My apologies. However, I hope you won't treat Mao Qingyan like this in the future. At such a young age, it's best to watch your words!"